The Deadly Jeux
by Random Wonders
Summary: He, in an attempt to revive his sister and best friend, will participate in the deadly game of the faieries. She, to save her childhood friend and her own life, will win the game at all costs. Co-authored.
1. Abodement

**_Attention:_**

**_Authors writing this story: Alcyon Moire, Czeselle, DreamswithJoy, Pancakezxc, July Passion_**

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><p><strong><span>The Deadly Jeux<span>**

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><p><strong>Abodement<strong>

It was impossible. It really was.

But it was happening—right now. The officers were grave, the parents, indifferent. No one cared. No one except her, and she knew it.

Why did that person have to die? Why not someone who deserved it? Why not her "father"? Why not her "mother"? Why did someone who brought brightness to the small space she lived in, have to die in the hands of a monster? Why did she have to deal with it all?

Hotaru was crying, sobbing. The 'girl with no emotion', the 'ice queen', was grieving while the girl's parents were not. The officers just stood there, emotionless, until one of them decided to say something.

"We'll be finishing this up next week. Our condolences."

Those words could not mend a broken heart of the one person close to the dead girl. They could only hope to ease the pain, just a little. For a girl that seemed like the sun, it must have been a huge loss.

But that could not bring her back. Hotaru knew that as someone who studied science her whole life. The idiot who loved sweets, who believed in Santa, who brought gifts for everyone's birthday, who had three part time jobs, who wanted to own a store; she was gone. Hotaru repeated the word in her mind, "_Gone"_.

But she was sure—so sure she'd find a way to make things better. Yes, she would do the impossible.

She would find a way.

* * *

><p>"An accident caused by grief."<p>

What a lie. It was nothing but irresponsibility. Stupid people did stupid things; this was just another mistake.

He looked at the coffins, one with his best friend, and the other with the woman who killed him.

Cursing, he sat down, counting.

How many people he knew had died this month?

Four.

His sister, his best friend's father, his best friend, and his best friend's mother.

What were the causes?

Accident, accident, accident, accident.

How fucking stupid.

There is nothing left but sadness, anger, and _hate. _He felt like he wanted to burn everything down.

Which sounded wonderful as he listened to this bullshit. It was all about how great they were, when only one of them really was.

"Fuck it, I ain't listening to a bunch of shit."

He left quickly, slamming the door behind him. And as the guests looked, one person figured out a simple thing.

"_He's just fed up with the world, isn't he?"_

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><p>The woman was in a different place from her world. Beside her was a boy, gentle and faithful. They were floating, of course. The populous could not see them<p>

"She must be very sad to do this, Miss. It's admirable to see someone like that. Someone who has a loved one who means so much to them, they'll throw away everything. Don't you agree?"

"Boy, you are very aware of these things, are you not? Perhaps it is because you left someone like that behind as well?"

The boy looked up at her, the smile not quite reaching his eyes, "That is very true, Miss. I would not mind being dead if not for leaving him behind. That is my exact reason for doing all this - for wanting a second chance. It may be selfish, but it seems to be good enough for you to reach your hand out to me."

The woman smiled, touching the boy's shoulder, "Before you go, I must wish you luck, Ruka Nogi. You and her reasons are both so pure, I cannot help but be touched."

Before he could ask what she meant by "her", she disappeared. And he was sent off to the mad girl's side.

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><p>Hotaru had no idea why she was visiting funerals. There was a chance it was for distraction. It could have been a way to figure things out.<p>

Following that angry guy was her best bet.

"Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit! What the hell's that preacher saying? Ruka was the best kid anyone could ask for—and they're saying shit like this about him? That he should have _taken care _of them!"

Footsteps. Whose? He didn't care.

"I don't think acting like a spoiled child is going to help you."

He turned, too pissed to do anything other than punch whoever followed him here. But something stopped him cold.

She was just like him. Always discontent and always frustrated; distant. She was dangerous—could ruin someone's life in an instant. It took a few seconds to realize that he didn't want this person as an enemy.

But that didn't mean he had to like her, "What the hell are you doing here?"

She shrugged, "No idea. But if I can say one thing, a small suggestion if you allow it."

"What?"

She stepped closer, a calculating smile on her face. She whispered something into his ear, then walked away.

Backing away, he yelled, "Get the hell out!"

And so she did, and he figured he'd never see her again. But her words still lingered.

"_I'll find a way to bring people alive."_

Punching whatever was nearby; he yelled and cursed like never before, in a rage people thought had long since disappeared.

But then, people never quite noticed the tear that fell down his cheek.

* * *

><p>Except her, of course.<p>

A girl was now sitting next to the woman, instead of the boy. The woman was smiling gently, the girl curious and eager.

The one odd thing about them was that they were floating high above most of the populous, and the angry boy himself.

"Miss, is this the one? He seems so very sad though! How can someone like _me _bring him happiness?"

The woman responded, "Girl, you do not have to worry about that. All you have to do is help him, and you get what you want."

The girl's grin turned bitter, and unusual emotion for her, "So Hotaru will—"

"Girl, it will be as if you never left. But you cannot see your friend unless you do this _right._"

The girl was still sad, but managed to smile once again, "Okie dokey! I'll chat with him right away!"

Before the woman could warn her, the girl set off, ignorant and determined at the very same time. The one thing she could say was simple.

"Good luck, Mikan Sakura."

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><p><strong>DreamsWithJoy<strong>

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><p><p>

Sometimes he'd wonder why these certain things always happened to him. Sometimes Ruka wondered why he died. Other times he wondered why he became a Madé Faierie. And today… He wondered how he could save himself as he plummeted towards the ground.

_Oh great!_

His mind lashed sarcastically. Maybe jumping off the cloud wasn't the most brilliant idea. Ruka thought that he knew how to use his wings; he was a smart boy after all. Problem was that he was just recently _born again_ and he really haven't gotten used to his new wings someone were to ask him, he'd tell you he was reincarnated, not born. Besides it wasn't like he had a new mother. Now, that was an insane idea.

The only idea decent idea that sprung to his mind: _land onto some trees. _Ruka moved his body through the cutting wind. He twisted, turned and fled. The wind, like knives slashing him in the face, was making his eyes tear up a bit. God, did it pain him.

A sudden flick of brunneous hair appeared in the corner of his eye. He turned and saw two pigtails fluttering slowly in the wind.

_"Your and her intentions are so pure."_

He smiled the best that he could. Ruka noticed how her wings were slowly flapping as she hovered around slowly towards someone. Then, as if she had heard him, she turned around, with a tiny smile on her face.

"Think happy thoughts!" She yelled. Another flap of her small wings and she was gone. It was sort of like_ magic._

_Happy Thoughts..._

"_Natsume, wait up!"_

_Those familiar crimson red eyes turned to him. His hands coolly tucked into his pockets. The raven-haired lad waited at a stop sign for his friend. Still, he never responded. Instead he gave a simple gesture – hurry up, slowpoke._

"_Where do you live, Ruka?"_

_Ruka looked sheepishly at him instead of answering. A sudden gust of wind almost knocked poor Ruka off his feet. Natsume's lips cracked into a faint smile, tempted to laugh at how the wind almost knocked him over._

"_D-don't laugh at me!" Ruka smacked Natsume's arm playfully._

_It only made Natsume chuckle. "Again, where do you live?"_

"_I live right over there," Defeated he pointed to a house across the street._

"_Big house," Natsume said nonchalantly. "Cool. I live on the next street down."_

"_Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Natsume!" Ruka waved frantically at him as he was about to cross the street._

_His hand suddenly caught Ruka's wrist. "We're having dinner at my house," Natsume gazed down coolly at his phone's screen. "You can spend the night if you want, too." Another jerk and Ruka was being dragged down the street._

_Ruka Nogi had a friend. And, that was more than enough._

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><p>Hotaru was always a cautious and smart girl, special even. Even though her nickname and reputation landed on 'The Ice Queen', she still had a right to have feelings like any other girl. When her best friend left, her world fell apart. Hotaru had made it her duty to always have Mikan smile. Whatever the cost, she would have her friend smile. No matter how trashy or depressing her life became, Mikan would smile.<p>

But Mikan was gone now. The only emotion she had left was grief. Nothing more and nothing less.

Suddenly, something plummeted into a tree next to her. Holding her defensive weapon, her baka gun, she walked backwards slowly from the tree. A split second later, a blonde figure came rolling out of the tree. Amber leaves and mahogany twigs were twisted together with the person's hair. She examined him carefully. He was about her age, taller and well built.

His blue eyes flickered to her face and he quickly stood up. A mixed look in her eyes threw him off. He moved an inch closer to her as she took a step backwards. He tried again, but she still moved further away from him.

"You don't trust people very much, do you?" He questioned. "Don't worry, I'm an honest person."

Realizing that he might be a little too straight forward, he added, "Sorry."

"And, you're too trusting of people." Hotaru nodded coolly.

"It's okay to rely on others though, right?" he hopped closer. "I mean, sometimes."

Just like a rabbit, he hopped even closer to Hotaru. Ruka felt like he had matured – for once, he wasn't stuttering when talking to another girl. It was a big step.

"You're too arrogant," She stated, her gaze fixed on him.

"Ah, but aren't you the same?" He was being cocky. Dang, did it feel odd.

"I am and I don't see any point in furthering this conversation," With that, she stormed off.

Guilt was rushing through his veins, but he ignored it. Ruka knew that he could beat her to where she was going. He knew that today was a sad day for her.

Yes, he knew exactly where to wait for her.

_Mikan Sakura_

_1994-2007_

_Here lies a friend, family member and gracious soul._

_R.I.P_

"I knew that you'd come here." His voice rang, satisfied.

She sniffed flatly. "I don't know who you are. I don't care what you want. I just want to be left alone."

"But, that's the thing. You hate to be left alone."

She snapped, "Don't speak like you know me."

The only person who really knew her was dead.

"My name's N. I know who you are. I do care about what you want. And, I don't want to leave you alone," A small blush crept to Ruka's cheeks. He couldn't believe what he just said.

The gleaming sun revealed one of his wings over his shoulder. Hotaru never believed in fairytales. Shock was written all over her face. Maybe they were fake wings, but it seemed a little crazy for a guy to be running around in some fairy wings. Following her gaze, Ruka noticed that she had seen his wings. He smiled. Now things will be easier. He should have shown his wings in the first place.

"I'm sorry for what happened to her. When the time comes for a chance to get her back..."

"I would take it."

Ruka grinned. "That chance has come."

"I've heard in these fairytales that there's a catch."

"T-that's right. Um, one second, I have the thing somewhere around here," Nogi stuttered absent-mindedly as he searched through his pockets. He flapped a crinkly paper and passed it to Hotaru.

Hotaru scanned over the paper. "Risk my life, get contracted, death may occur?"

"Uh, yes. Like I said, it's a long shot," He paused shortly. "We're going to play the Jeux, a game. Accept to play, win and we both get what we want."

Taking a red pointed pen out of her pocket, Hotaru signed on the dotted line. She would do anything to see Mikan smile again. With a poof of magic, a spin of the paper and a blast, the paper was gone as it shot straight into the clouds.

_Smile again..._

As though as he was reading her mind, he gave a wink, "She's closer than you think."

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><p>Mikan knew how to fly and she was proud of it. Hotaru's cold demeanor towards her had helped shape her determination in learning things well. Reminiscence of her best friend always reminded her of the joyous memories to look forward to in life. And this kept her cheerful.<p>

However, the wind was strong and mad like the boy. She found it tough to fly against the powerful gusts. With much effort, Mikan managed to hover around the top of the small hill where the raven-haired lad was. Boy, he sure was mad. He was cursing and yelling so much that she could hear him from where she was. Mikan's eyes watered as the wind blew her around. She closed her eyes just for a second, one tiny second and that sent her falling. Fear kicked in and her wings failed her. Mikan found herself smashing into the mad boy. They tumbled down from the top of the hill.

Natsume's instinct was to protect the girl, since he didn't like seeing people getting hurt, no matter whose fault it is. His arms encircled the girl, keeping the girl's head and upper body safe from harm.

They reached the bottom of the hill unharmed. Mikan's eyes shot open. Her heart was jumping around in her chest. For candy's sake, she thought she was going to die, again. She was panting and scared. Then, her fear melted like ice. Crimson red eyes stared intensely at her. She really hoped that her cheeks weren't turning red. She always had that bad habit of blushing at the wrong time.

A bored expression plastered his face. Natsume pushed the girl off roughly to the side. Almost immediately, Mikan's face lit up in boiling anger. She was like a switch, one click to turn her on and one click to turn her off. Playing with Mikan's emotions would only result in juggling fire. Whether he knew it or not, he was playing.

Her face and her cheeks were rosy red in colour. Mikan tried standing up but pain seared through her thigh. She cringed away from the bright sunshine as she fell. The boy, Natsume just stared in awe. No, he wasn't going to touch those wings no matter what. They were thin and fragile-looking.

She winced as she tried flapping her wings, "Ouch!"

Maybe she wasn't the best at handling pain. Natsume's face wore a surreal look. His hand gently went to her shoulder, though he seemed afraid to even move her. He hated to cause anyone pain.

His hand touched her shoulder.

"Ah! Don't touch me. I'll be fine."

Mikan's hands gripped the grass tightly. She tried pushing herself up again, and was successful at her second attempt. But she was in pain. Natsume couldn't decide if the wings were real or not. If the wings were faked, they couldn't possibly hurt her. His mind was spinning. He had heard the term 'girls flying at him', but he never actually expected it to happen.

"Those things are fake, right?" He asked as he extended his index finger to point at her wings.

Her eyes glinted. "My chest is not fake, you pervert!"

He smacked his forehead. For the love of manga. H snapped, "You idiot. I'm talking about your fairy wings or whatever."

"Oh! These things," Mikan accidentally flapped her wings. "Yeah, they're real. I'm not human... Anymore."

"Sit." His voice rang roughly, which she surprisingly obeyed.

The wings moved every time she moved. Natsume sat on his knees as he examined her wings. They were small wings, the kind that he had seen in fairytales as a child. Obviously, from the clear material, they weren't made from fabric. He reached his hand out without a second thought to touch them. When she yelped, he quickly withdrew his hand.

"So, why were at the top of that hill. I saw a cliff the side. You weren't going to, you know?"

"I have nothing to live for. Still, it doesn't mean that I would go and kill myself."

"Oh, well that's good. I'm sure they wouldn't want that either."

Silence roamed until Natsume asked, "So, you've been stalking me."

"What! No way, I hate cocky guys."

"So, you stalk non-cocky guys then?"

"Ugh! Whatever, jerk." The grave look that suddenly took over his face when she called him a 'jerk', made Mikan feel bad. She was wondering why when it clicked – his best friend used to call him that.

"I'm sorry, he used to call you that, huh?"

"What the hell! You know nothing, stupid girl. Or whatever the hell you are," He flared. "Get lost!"

"Whatever, idiot! I can't believe you are my partner for the game, if not for N-"

He hissed darkly "What in the world are you talking about?"

"This!" She retorted as she shoved the paper into his face. Quickly, he whacked her hand away, picked up the paper and read it.

"What's this? A stupid joke to get back at me or something?" Natsume scoffed and dropped the paper at her feet.

"No, it isn't!" She picked up the paper and slapped it against his chest. "The Jeux is a game, a game where we can both get what we want. You'll be risking your life and you may die in the process. This is your stupid chance to get Nogi back! Are you really going to let this chance get by? You won't die not signing it! I expected better from you. I expected you to care for your best friend. I expected you to jump in immediately at th-"

"Shut up. You have no right. You have no say," He snarled harshly but he took the paper and signed it. Her eyes lit in awe as the paper flew towards the sky, straight into the clouds.

"Wow, that was so cool!"

Natsume's teeth clenched. "What's your name?"

"Uh, I usually go by, um, S."

"Good to know." He smirked evilly. "I'm going to fucking rip that smile off your face, S. If this is a game to trick me."

"Don't worry. It's not," She replied. Something in her mind told her, that this was going to be one long story to tell to her kids someday.

If she ever have kids.

_**-End-**_

_**July Passion.**_


	2. Bale

**_Attention:_**

**_Authors writing this story: Alcyon Moire, Czeselle, DreamswithJoy, **_July Passion, _**Pancakezxc_**

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><p><strong><span>Bale<span>**

_Small, numerous pebbles-like things hit her stomach. With both her hands tied behind her back and her legs secures tightly by a rope, she couldn't move. She couldn't even see what was happening or scream. Her eyes were blindfolded and her mouth was gagged. A sharp uncomfortable groan from her stomach reminded her that she hasn't eaten for days. Another round of pebbles-like things hit her chest. Pitch black seemed to reign forever as she trembled continuously. Time seemed to crawl by as her hope of being rescued started to falter. Her aunt... She would come and save her, no? She chided herself for thinking otherwise. Of course, she would..._

_Then, the pebble-like things hit her face. She inhaled the scent of the things hitting her as realization dawned on her. This was soil. Her kidnapper was piling soil on her body. Was she going to be buried alive? No! A fear of death so sharp, her whole body flinched, trying to break free. However, it was too late... No, it wasn't too late; there was never a chance that she would be able to escape. Soil filled the hole she was in, now that she was certain she is in a hole. She prayed silently, hoping that Hotaru, her aunt and her aunt's family would not be too sad about her death. Bits of soil blocked her passage of air as she struggled to gasp - but her mouth was gagged. Her survival instinct kicked in and she rocked violently as she struggled to breathe, to no avail. An acute pain seared across her tight chest as she kept flailing, until her heart stopped beating..._

She was wrenched from her nightmare as gasped heavily, trying to breathe. Images of her traumatic experience continued to steal her attention from Natsume Hyuuga, the human boy. It took moments before she could finally focused on the boy in front of her. Directly in front her! She squealed and skidded back, as she wait for her heart to restart again from the shock. Squatting down next to her makeshift bed, he was in a navy t-shirt and aubergine shorts. The intensity of his rubious eyes had shaken her. His tousled sable hair half covered his eyes and for a second, she was mesmerized by his potent looks.

"Hyuu- Hyuuga? Good morning."

"You weren't breathing," He stated as he raised his left eyebrow. "A Madé Faierie doesn't breathe?"

"Of course we do, but it isn't essential for our survival," She frowned slightly as she noticed her damp shirt.

He blinked once before getting up. "We're going to Fay today, right?"

She nodded her head vigorously. "Once you're ready, we'll go."

He gave her another odd look and replied, "My name is Natsume and I'm not going to repeat that again."

Then, he left the room. His parents weren't home. Well, technically, they were never home, not after they had lost their precious pearl. He changed to a stylistic short-sleeved button down maroon striped shirt and long fallow pants. Some sort of hope was renewed in his heart when he realized that maybe, he had a chance in saving two souls. Retrieving a palm-sized hourglass and soft toy, he clutched them tightly in his right hand. Gently, he kissed his knuckles and whispered, "I'll save you."

He headed back to where he left S, all ready for the Deadly Jeux. She was sitting down with her legs crossed and using her hand to comb her long straight tawny hair. Her sienna eyes brightened at his entrance. A fork pricked at his heart. S reminded him of someone, someone close. He sighed and took a good look at her. She was in a pistachio translucent flowing dress and ochre lace up boots. Is that the traditional dressing a Madé Faierie has to be in to go to Fay? Geez, why does he even believe her strange words? She might even be lying.

_"What game are you talking about?"_

_"It's called, 'The Deadly Jeux'. During the game, you will get to choose a power of your choice. If you win, you get your wish granted," She responded bubbly._

_"How do you play the game?"_

_"I don't know," Her voice was so fresh, so vibrant, he wanted to punch her. "But once seven days are up, I can take you to Fay and we'll meet the other teams!"_

_"Then?"_

_"Then I'm sure Miss Miranda will explain the rules of the game."_

_"Who's Miss Miranda?"_

_"She's one of the Elder Fairies."_

_"What's the difference between a Madé Faierie and an Elder Faierie?"_

_She pouted slightly before answering, "We die if we lose the game."_

At that time, he felt that he had no authority to doubt her story, not when she is putting her life on the line, but... What if she was just some lunatic? She stretched out her right hand to him as sparks of light burst out of her hand. He took it and they vanished into the thin air.

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><p><em>The woman slumped down on the couch in a drunken stupor. It had been one month since he had passed away. He carefully laid a blanket over her and turned her so that she could rest on her side, just in case she started to vomit, at least she wouldn't choke. He left the house for his part time job - something he has been doing since the last month. All his mother did was to drink, drink and drink... And to wallow in her sorrows. Apparently, having a teenage son wasn't enough to help her get her shit together and support the family. It wasn't till late twilight when he returned home. The fragrance of home-cooked food wafted through the air. How very queer. His mother almost never cooks, unless it's a special occasion.<em>

_He drops everything and rushed to the kitchen. Her blonde hair was pulled back to a bun and she was properly cleaned and dressed. However, the delusion in her eyes had betrayed her. The ends of her nude lips went up to form a smile._

_"Ruka! You're home. Dinner is ready. Come on, sit down and eat."_

_He was doubtful whether it could be eaten. Still, he took a sit at the dining table as his mother served a dish of spaghetti and French onion soup. His mother took a sit beside him and began eating. He picked up the fork and started twirling spaghetti. Putting it near his nose, he sniffed it, wondering what his mother had put inside._

_"Stop playing with your food! EAT IT NOW!" His mother hollered as she banged the table twice. Afraid of further aggravating his mother, he scooped up the spaghetti and forced it down his throat. Bitterness overflowed his mouth. What did his mother add? However, this time, he didn't stop eating. He just kept stuffing the food in his mouth, even though the piping hot food scalded his throat. His mother grinned happily as he finished his food._

_"Good boy... Ruka, Good boy..." A wicked laughter escaped from her mouth. He promptly got up and went to wash the dishes. The weird thing was that he couldn't find the dishwashing liquid. He distinctly remembered he had just refilled it to the brim. Where did it go? Oh well, he had homework to do. He would just have to leave the dirty dishes in the sink. It was hours before he felt a sharp pang of pain in his stomach. In the dead of the night, an acute pain spread across his body from his stomach. He fell from his bed as he rolled on the floor, clutching his stomach. One hand gripped the skin of his abdomen and the other tried to reach out for the door to call for help. He tried letting out a cry but his throat was dry and the voice that came out was barely audible. It didn't take long for him to decide to give up on life, not when he was being tortured every second. He closed his eyes and faded into the darkness._

"Bunny boy, get up. We're going to Fay," A cold voice smacked him awake. He opened his eyes to find that the human girl, Hotaru Imai, was kicking him in the stomach. He groaned and got up. She was in such a hurry. He could see that she was all dressed. Her short raven hair was neatly combed and her deep amethyst eyes shone with determination. Clad in a denim jacket, white tank top and black leggings, she was tapping her foot impatiently. He sighed and snapped his fingers. The normal t-shirt and shorts he was wearing a moment ago transformed into just a cobalt tight pants.

Hotaru took his hand when she noticed the similar twinkles of light glowing in his hand. Then, they disappeared into the oblivion.

* * *

><p>An Elder Faierie floated above a ring of fire, where some faieries were dancing around and others playing the music. A shaft of light beam descended from the sky and hit the middle of the fire. Twenty-four beings appeared from nowhere - half of them were humans and the other half, Madé Faieries. Her hair, colour of burnt orange hung around her waist, with pretty curls for ends. She was dressed in silky dark rosewood gown that was long enough to surround the ground around her. Dark rose, butterfly-like wings rested on her back. She grinned at the contenders.<p>

"Welcome to Fay, the land of faieries, where faieries tell you everything that is really nothing, and nothing of what is everything. Do not be fooled by what we're saying and listen carefully and try to hear what we're not saying. I'm sure all of you are wondering what the trick of the Deadly Jeux is. After all, why would we grant you any wish when you win the game? The objective of the game is for the human to kill the Madé Faierie and the Madé Faierie to enslave the human to a contract. By this contract, the loser's power will be given to the winner and the loser has to grant the winner a wish. Only after the wish is granted, will the loser be able to return to the human world. You will be given a power of your choice temporarily and a special iron dagger to kill the Madé Faieries while playing the game. The Madé Faierie will be able to enslave the human on the pretext that either the human agrees willingly, or the human's wish is known. So, keep your wish private! The last duo standing will win the game."

She then picked poppies from nothingness and dropped twelve onto the ground. The poppies were of different colour, but each poppy was made of three layers, with each layer containing four petals.

"Each wither of a petal means a team eliminated. There are certain rules in this game. If a faierie, regardless of whether the faierie is an Elder or a Good Folk, gives you a team's faierie representative name, you are to defeat that faierie team first. Unless you defeat them first, you cannot destroy another team. If not, you're free to start kicking a team out. Oh, and one more word of advice. Don't anyhow give out your name to anybody! That's it!"

She snapped her fingers and all the teams disappeared, scattered around Fay. Then, she descended and joined in the celebration of the new entertainment.

* * *

><p><strong>Alcyon Moire<strong>

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><p>"What's a Good Folk?" Natsume asked with a raised eyebrow. They were lying down on a field of soft green grass, on the top of a small hill. Teleportation had brought them there, and the weather had made them both lazy. The sky was a light steel blue with a tinge of grey. Puffs of mushy clouds lolled in the sky. No sun was scorching the ground. It was a fine day.<p>

"The normal faieries," Mikan answered as she propped herself up with her right elbow.

"What's the difference between the types of faieries?"

"I honestly don't know. But I do know that elder faieries are quite high in ranking and we're the lowest."

Natsume rolled his eyes. He sat up and felt for his special iron dagger, where he had placed somewhere near his right kidney. "What's the difference between you and me?"

"I have wings," Mikan replied triumphantly. Now he really feels like punching the girl. "And I have a power!"

That caught his attention. "A temporary kind? Like mine?"

She shook her head. "Mine's for as long as I live. What did you choose as your power anyway?"

"None of your business."

"Fine, I'm not telling you my power too," She stuck her tongue at him.

"I don't really care anyway. Come on, we're leaving this place."

"Eh, so fast? Where are we going?" Mikan scurried to his side. He was fast and was already heading down the small little hill.

He groaned. Looks like he can't assume that she actually know this place. "You're the one who have lived in Fay, not me."

"But I have never been out of the Village."

"And where's that," He asked, though he didn't think she would know.

"I'm not sure."

Bingo. She's an idiot.

"What do you know, really?" He questioned as he placed his right hand on his forehead.

"A poppy petal just dropped," She mumbled. He stopped, feeling annoyed that she wasn't enunciating her words clearly and was about to lose his temper when she repeated herself. "A poppy petal just dropped. A team has been eliminated."

"I don't care about them. We are going to eliminate teams too. It is not a shocking fact."

She didn't comment on that but sighed. His mind was thinking, however. How long had they been wasting time? Were some teams teleported closer to one another or were they all concentrated in this open field? His eyes spotted a small little ring further down the hill. The ring seemed charred and there was a bunch of flowers in the middle. Except for that, everywhere was just a grassy landscape, with a couple of flowers, he couldn't really name. He hoped that the whole of Fay wasn't lie that.

"What's that?"

She pulled him to a stop as she saw it. "Do you remember when we first teleported here, there was a big fire and a bunch of faieries were dancing around it?"

"So?"

"That's the aftermath of the event. The ring there is a warning to all the beings below the ranking of the Good Folk to stay away. We can't go there unless we're invited. Not even near it. If we want to cross, we must not be able to see it."

"So you're saying we're stuck on this stupid hill?"

"Unless we get permission from the ring dwellers, pretty much, yes, we're stuck. The ring is blocking the grounds of the hill."

"And you're saying we should get stuck?"

"Some faieries might be unhappy enough to curse you."

"Is the rest of Fay like this?"

"Well, as compared to Earth, Fay is covered in plain greenery, besides a couple of villages, tribes and castles. Some places are really pretty, like a beautiful picturesque scene. However, these rings are quite common everywhere. Anyway, they disappear after ten days if the faieries don't come back. So, we're quite safe from an attack, actually."

"You do realize that there is no food and water here?"

She stared at me blankly. "Actually, faierie food is anything green and faierie water can be collected from trees."

"Do you see any edible stuff here?" He inquired, pissed. They were in an open field.

"There are dandelions around... I could do without water for ten days... But..."

He looked at her in disbelief.

"I don't think humans can eat faierie stuff..."

"I wouldn't even if you gave it to me."

"You will die without it, no?"

He rolled his eyes at her.

"Now that I think about it, I'm not sure where to get human stuff in Fay..."

Exasperated, he stormed off in the direction of the ring, determined to dump Mikan in the pathetic hill.

"Natsume!"

He neared the ring very quickly and as soon as he stopped, the silly little faierie crashed into him and she fell backward.

"Aw..."

A faierie started to materialize in the middle of the ring. Her hair was of fern green colour, with a short fringe and a curly bob. Her dressing was much more revealing as compared to Mikan's dressing - a high cut, knee length saffron dress. Transparent, colourless dragonfly-like wings rested on her back. Her furious olive eyes faltered a little as she saw them.

"Oh no."

The faierie walked straight up to Natsume and paused. She was shorter than him, but her anger seemed to melt away as she went closer to him. A mischievous smile played on her lips.

"I like you. You are hot."

* * *

><p><strong>Czeselle<strong>


	3. Catch

**Catch**

_She was knowledgeable in her situation in terms of movies and books. But in those, the main character always gets lucky. They hitch a ride with some kind person, who does all these extra things without asking for anything in return._

_That does not happen in real life, she now knew that loud and clear. Many have offered with ill intentions, others have passed her by without even saying a word. Sumire was getting a large dose of reality while trying to hitchhike, but knew this had to be done._

_She was the girl everyone thought was annoying, or shallow, or slutty. The snobby rich girl. But she wasn't really. She was just trying to make friends, and acted in a way she really wasn't. She was still a virgin from a middle class family after all._

_But her parents bought all these cruel rumors about selling herself, or sleeping with anyone who asked. They gave her a lecture, and she bolted. Cowardly and very teenager, but it was the way she was taught to be._

_Sumire did not know what she was going to do with her life, but she knew she couldn't go back. No, not to that suffering she had to call home. This hitchhike _was _going to change her life, and she was going to prove everyone wrong._

_She sat down, sighing. Before all that, she had to actually _get _a ride._

_She didn't know how long she had to sit down in the cold road. But before long, it was already at least 6:00. Just around the time she would usually have dinner. Yes, when her parents called her down and—_

"_Hey, need a ride?"_

_At first, she thought she was going delusional. Then, she looked up._

_It was a man in the car, about her age (even though he tried to seem older and cooler). He seemed perfectly innocent, but she had to double check._

"_What do you want with me?" a basic question asked to all, and most of the time, the answer wasn't to her satisfaction._

_He just smiled, an easy smile that just seemed to roll on by, "Nothin' much. Just thought of how shitty the world's become, for no one to pick a girl up just to help 'er."_

_Sumire was somewhat amused, and decided she'd take a chance._

"_Make some room for the lady, because I'm certainly not going into some pigsty of a car!"_

_He claimed to be a repairman of some sort, just drifting to find his next job to pay rent. He acted as if he knew the world—like some sort of intellectual. And in a sense, that was all true._

"_I have a baby you know, her name is Easter." Was said in the middle of their conversation. She almost gasped, but stayed quiet and said one thing._

"_What kind of name is Easter for a baby?"_

"_Well," he shrugged, "An old friend of mine loved the idea of Easter. Just loved it. So when I held her in my arms, I figured it was the perfect name. Wanna see a picture?"_

_She just nodded, and he took out his phone with one hand, browsing through pictures, "Here she is."_

_She looked at the picture of a kitten and sighed, "Cute kitty, Easter really is cute."_

"_I know she is."_

_They continued talking aimlessly for about ten more minutes, and he asked her if she was hungry._

_She really was._

_They ate at a cheap diner nearby his apartment. He said he always went here for breakfast, but never for dinner. She ate with vigor, knowing she hadn't touched food in over six hours. It was a strange feeling, because she kept on ordering greasy, unhealthy food. Stuff she would never eat if she was still at home. And he didn't seem to mind at all, only eating a burger and fries while she was stuffing her face._

"_Wanna stay at my place?" was the last question he asked her that night._

_She said yes, not questioning what's what anymore._

_She felt strangely at home when she came to his apartment. It was homey, not too messy, and not too clean. Here, she didn't have those, 'You could do better' speeches. No, not at all._

_She sat and played with Easter for a while, then went on his computer. Drifting, drifting, drifting until she got bored again._

_There was a knock on the door._

_She was nervous, yes. It could be the cops; it could be anyone. But for some reason, she was scared. So very scared. He seemed nervous as well, and held a gun firm in his hand._

_Wait… How did he get a gun? No, it couldn't be. Not him, not—_

The two, especially the boy, amused Sumire. Yes, there was something about him that was like a distant memory, and her anger melted like butter. So she wanted to be a little shallow, a little flirty, because this person could be the man in the car. The man who seemed to be the key to figuring out what happened before she died.

"Hmmm? Handsome guy and a newbie madé faierie gal? What kind of surprises will you bring me?"

The girl gasped, "Permy… It has to be Permy!"

The boy glanced at both of them, and Sumire felt a wave of irritation. What _right _did that idiot Mikan have to call her Permy? Didn't she tell her that—

Wait...how did she know that newbie's name was Mikan?

"How does the likes of a newbie faierie know _me? _And what are you doing near _my _territory? Well, I don't mind the hottie, so he can stay."

Raking her fingers against the boy's chest, Sumire laughed, "If you weren't hot, I would _not _be giving you two permission. But all you have to do is give me your name, and I won't force anything on you as you leave, hm?"

S seemed thoughtful, and spoke quickly, "No can do Permy! Because if we give his name to another competitor, we'll be in trouble! And since you clearly don't remember me, Permy, I'll just step in, permission be damned!"

Somehow, the boy didn't know who was freakier. This happy-go-lucky one turned weird, or an overly flirty one who almost managed to trick him into giving his name. But he could not dwell on those facts. He did know S had a _lot _of explaining to do before he threw her in whatever nearby incinerator he could find.

* * *

><p>Hotaru actually seemed pleased.<p>

N felt like it was nothing short of a miracle, even though she was casually eliminating teams without even leaving her home. After all, with her power, she could have him do all that for her. Smile and eliminate a team, without mentioning her at all. But while she was doing research on a few other teams, she asked him a question.

"Bunny boy, why is everyone making such a fuss about a faierie without a human?"

Faierie without a human was what they called him now, and many rumors were spreading. Hotaru said it was good news, while N did not appreciate being portrayed as a psychopath bunny humanoid faierie. But if there was another outside of common rumors…then he had no idea what to do next.

So he answered simply, "Because a faierie can get away with revealing some of his or her secrets, while for a human, a simple factor of height or age can easily give another faierie power to legibly control him or her. Sometimes, a faierie cares so much for a human that they'll go off on his or her own. The human can actually stay in Fay, as long as he or she follows the rules here. So, they'll live. Other times, it's a deal, more efficient. But there is one more scenario that is possible. And I have to warn you, it isn't very pretty."

Hotaru does not care for his warning, "Go ahead bunny boy. I've had enough of rainbows and sunshine to last my whole life."

N held back a comment about her not having nearly enough rainbows or sunshine, but decided to be the pacifist once again.

"There is the case where there simply _is _no human. A glitch in the system, or the faierie murdered their human out of sheer selfish feelings. But either way, it's very dangerous, because the main weakness of a team is gone, because there is no team. And for that to even happen, the faierie must be already powerful enough without a human… And we're talking about madé faieries here, that doesn't happen easily. Other types of faieries don't need humans."

"What do you mean by the madé faierie must be already powerful enough without a human?"

"Well…" N paused for a short while, debating to whether to tell her. "Madé faieries need the life energy of humans to live… We're not the purer faierie like a Good Folk or the pure faierie like an Elder, so if we don't need a human, we must either found a new life source or we found a way to sustain ourselves."

Hotaru was attentive, and very much observant. N continues.

"Anyway, that faierie without a human will become invincible, and no one, not even the highest fairies, have the ability to stop them."

* * *

><p><strong>DreamsWithJoy<strong>


	4. Daze

**Daze**

_"Hey, you two." The hooded faierie stood tall. In the faint sunshine, they could see the depth of his wrinkles._

_"Yes elder?" Permy stared at the paper in his hands._

_"Take care of this team," he handed her the thick paper. "And in exchange, I shall give you food when you need it most."_

_Sumire ascertained, "You mean food for both of us?"_

_"Yes! Get out of my sights." His hand shooed in a direction._

**Sakura Team**

Picture ID:

Picture ID:

Initials: MS

Initials: NH

Human: NH

Madé faierie: MS

Team(s) eliminated by team: 0.

Last Known Location: Fay Meadow.

Sumire gazed back at the boy. He was sitting down, resting. His hair violently whipped by the wind with grace. She didn't know why she was watching him so closely. There was just something about him. Maybe something that could help her remember how she died.

"Hyu-" S quickly smacked a hand over her mouth. Her eyes averted to permy, who already have a playful smirk on her lips. Crap, she almost slipped part of his name.

S held out her hand. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," He shot her a glare. "Idiot."

He slapped her hand back and got up on his own. Sumire watched as S exploded with frustration. Now, this was very amusing to her.

"I'm not an idiot!" Her hands clenched into fists.

"Idiot," The taunting in his voice rose. A giggle erupted from Sumire's throat, just as Mikan smacked him upside the head. As she watched him, she noticed how raven his hair was. It really was quite the sight, to permy at least.

"I'm not an idiot!" S shot daggers at her partner again.

S turned around. "Well, see you later permy!"

Sumire was lucky to have picked up the little bits of their conversation, as they walked away. The odd thing was that she wasn't going to stop them either.

_"Where are we going, you stupid girl?"_

_"In to the woods. I figure we'll be fine in there. I mean come on what could go wrong? Don't call me stupid!"_

_"Stupid."_

The boy's crimson eyes avoided her gaze. S crossed her arms, still clearly enraged at the boy. Then, as if the boy knew she was watching, he turned around and stared straight into her eyes

"Oi, good luck seaweed," She blinked at him when her mind clicked. Seaweed? How dare he! Sumire snorted at his comment as they disappeared into Fay's woods. She let a smirk grow over her lips. Those idiots.

Suddenly, a small silver haired boy jumped down from a tree nearby. His silver eyes looked at her expressionlessly.

"You didn't give me the signal," He blew the hair out of his face. "I'm not obligated to help, you know."

It was always amusing, maybe comical, to Sumire as he played with his hair. Sometimes she thought that he is more obsessed over his hair more than anything else. Trying to look cool, her partner spun the iron blade around in his hand.

"Well, why eliminate them so soon?" An evil glint in her eye showed. "When we can have a little fun with them, hm?"

"Those idiots went into the Fay forest, huh?"

She grinned. "They did."

"Wow, just wow." God, did she love this kid. His hand waved in front of her face. She was spacing out again on him.

"Yeah. Hey, what temporary power did you choose again?" Permy gazed down at him.

He returned her stare thoughtfully and pouted, "I choose the Illusion power."

"Perfect." Her hand stroke his hair.

* * *

><p>It was like a cycle.<p>

Everyday, it was the same thing over and over. Hotaru would type on her purple laptop, eat her crab brains, then type some more, eat some additional crab brains, stare out the window and think about when N was going to come back. They were pretty successful in getting the latest gadgets in the market. After all, their first teleportation had led them to a well-established place of Fay and they have gotten everything they need within the few days they were in Fay. And with her power, she could sit down all day.

At the end of the day, N would come back, with a bloody dagger, greet her, and then he'd disappear off for a while to clean off whatever should be clean. Today was no exception and they were both resting in the house when night had fallen.

"Say, N, how was your day?" N asked himself as Hotaru paid no attention to him. "Oh, it was great, not that you don't know. After all, you must have had fun possessing me."

"Hn," She answered as she grabbed another jar of crab brains and a clean spoon.

"So what have you been doing all day?"

"Hn."

"Hotaru!"

"Whatever, bunny boy," Even with the boredom in her tone, her eyes still showed a sort of spark. She scooped another spoonful of crab brains.

"Say, Imai, why do you call me bunny boy?" Oddly enough, she lost gripped of her spoon. It went flying to the ground. Regaining her cool, she gazed lamely at him.

"No reason," Hotaru grabbed the spoon from the floor and tossed it into the sink.

A grin came to his face. "If you won't tell me then," His grin grew wider. "I'll poke you."

"Uh-huh," The threat didn't scare her. She just kept looking at her computer screen.

_Poke. Poke. Poke._

"Stop that," She gritted her teeth. Before she even knew what was happening, a small noise, kind of like a laugh passed by her lips. Next thing she knew, N fell to the ground laughing.

"Hotaru! Haha! Who would have known that you would be ticklish on the neck?

But she wouldn't let his comment spoil her satisfaction.

_Only seven more teams. Only seven more teams._

* * *

><p><strong>July Passion.<strong>

* * *

><p>The Fay forest was just like any forest on Earth with the exception of some magical and weird plant every here and there. And when the night fell, it wasn't any different than the forest on Earth. Darkness enveloped the road ahead of them, making it dangerous for them to move any further.<p>

"Are you sure we're at the right place?" Natsume questioned S.

"Yes, I am sure we're at the right place!" S chirped. By the tone of her voice, you would have believed what she said. However, Natsume knew that that tone of voice did not mean anything, since she was happy most of the time.

"This is useless. I'm going," He turned around, ready to leave the forest.

"Wait, we have to stick together or else-"

The rustling sound of the leaves forced Hyuuga to turn back. He eyed the place carefully. S was on the ground, with leaves on her hair and some part of her body.

"Or else this will happen," S finished and stood up so that she won't further humiliate herself.

She dusted the invisible dust on her outfit and looked at his crimson eyes. His eyes stood out in the dark surrounding like that.

"So where do you think we should go, Madé Faierie?" He asked, mocking.

"We should stop walking for the night. It's dangerous to walk at night in the forest," She answered.

"Isn't that what I've been saying since hours ago?"

S put a finger on her lips and hissed, "Keep quiet, will you?"

"That's what I've been asking you to do since I first met you."

* * *

><p>They sat under a huge tree in the forest. S kept guard, as she did not need to sleep to survive. She wondered when would the game end and what her outcome was. She hoped for something normal, but…<p>

Normal? What was normal? She was normal when she was human. Winning this game would grant her a body, and that was the only reason she took part in this game. It was a selfish cruel game, where people did anything they could just for their wish to be granted. S hated those kinds of people. But then again, isn't that what she was doing now?

She looked at his sleeping face and wondered, what would his wish be when everything was over? S took a deep breath and sighed. Time was running and sooner or later, they'll have to separate. Because when the game ends or when they lose, they were no longer need each other. Like it or not, they were just using each other to get what they wanted. So did that put her in the same category as her those cruel selfish people she hated? Her thoughts were not allowed to run because a loud explosion broke her away from her thoughts.

When she looked around, she did not see Natsume or any forest. All she saw was darkness. She walked around screaming for Hyuuga. Being careful, she shouted his initial instead of his real name. After a while, she grew tired. Stopping to catch her breath, S saw a girl with a brunette hair that reached her waist. There was something familiar about that girl, S thought.

S moved nearer and nearer to the girl. Raising her hand up on the air, she tried touching the girl that was hugging her knees. Her leg, she noted, was chained. There was something really familiar about her.

"Are you okay?"

Hazel eyes looked straight into her eyes. Her eyes were empty and void of emotions. It gave S goose bumps.

"Save me..." The girl whispered, but loud enough for S to hear.

Something triggered in her memories. Somewhere, when she was a human... She looked at her eyes again and a great realization struck her.

She was looking at herself, when she was still alive. Her expression was priceless. Suddenly, the image changed.

Instead of looking at herself hugging her knees, she saw herself being buried. Her face and expression was not readable but she knew what she was feeling by the teardrop that trailed down her cheeks.

_Save me..._

A scream of horror and pain escaped her mouth.

* * *

><p>Where was he? He had been running around but he could not escape. But escape from what, exactly? The place around him looked so familiar, yet he could not remember anything.<p>

From behind, he heard someone screaming his name.

"S?" He shouted and turned around.

But what he saw shocked him. Instead of looking at S face, he was facing thousand of people who were staring at him. Feeling discomfort, he broke into a run. He felt his leg being grabbed by someone. He fall and was unable to escape.

"Shit!" He cursed.

He tried to break free, but it was no use. He was outnumbered. Then, he saw a feet in front of him. Hyuuga looked up and saw his best friend face.

"Ruka..." He almost smiled. He felt relief. Ruka offered a hand to him and he took it gladly. Looking behind, he saw an empty street. Now he remembered where he was. He was at the human world, at his hometown. He looked back at Ruka. He was smiling at him."\

"So you weren't dead after all! Everything was a dream, wasn't it?"

"Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?" He closed up the gap between the two of them.

That was when he felt it. A pain – a stinging pain in his stomach. His immediate reaction was to look at what was going on.

A knife.

Small droplets of blood were dripping from the knife and trailing down his clothing. His eyes widened and looked at Ruka with disbelief.

"Ruka..." He said in a tone of betrayal.

"Why didn't you helped me that time Natsume? I was in so much pain..."

He felt another stab in his leg.

* * *

><p>Somewhere, at a distant, a girl with green colored hair and a little boy with silver haired were looking at the two beings suffering. They were sitting on a tree branch and looking closely at their every movement.<p>

"Now, isn't this fun?" the girl said.

"That's what you say. You're not the one using the power to torment them."

"Still, isn't this fun?"

"Sumire..." He trailed off. Sumire turned around and hummed a little, gesturing him to go ahead with what he wanted to say.

"You're a hag," He stuck out his tongue when she looked at him with anger. Ignoring her, his thoughts travelled when he wanted to put the illusion on the girl. There was something that was preventing him from attacking her. Something... he was just lucky he caught her off guard.

Now, what was S power? He pondered.

"What should we do now?" Sumire asked.

"Now, we wait."

* * *

><p>They were having dinner when N suddenly jumped off the chair.<p>

He ran back to his room and took out the iron dagger with him.

He threw it to his partner. "Hotaru!"

Hotaru winced but caught the dagger with both of her hand.

"Careful with that! What if you hurt me?" Hotaru shouted.

"Take your stuff and let's go."

Hotaru expression changed from anger to the face that she would give when she knew something was wrong.

"What's wrong, Nogi?"

"A team is nearby." He said.

"How do you know?" Hotaru asked in a calm tone. Or at least, she was trying to be calm.

"Didn't you hear that?"

"What?"

"Didn't you hear someone screaming?"

* * *

><p><strong>Pancakezxc<strong>


	5. Enigma

**Enigma**

N was rushing, that was obvious. Hotaru was always a bit of a slave driver, but today she was motivated. She was serious, _truly _serious. And it was actually quite frightening.

"N, care to tell me where they are?"

N sighed, shaking his head, "A place you'd rather not go to. This is a beginning of a war, and you must be careful—"

Hotaru just looked at him, "Shut _up _N. I don't wanna hear how dangerous it is. If I didn't _know _that, then I'd be an incompetent idiot. And that is one this I am _not."_

N just floated ahead, "Suit yourself; my power can't solve this alone you know."

"I know that bunny boy, and that's why I'm rushing. This'll need a bit more planning, and your power's perfect, see?"

"And what kind of plan is _that?_" N was never a fan of Hotaru's cryptic antics, but got used to them quickly enough. Right now, she was all business, and he couldn't ask a thing.

"You're going to talk to the stronger team, as if humans are weak and useless. Thanks to your ability, they'll believe you in an instant. Afterwards, I'll take on the kid."

N glanced at her, "What kid are you talking about?"

Hotaru just stayed serious, "You're going to convince them you're dangerous. And I'm going to kidnap the human kid."

"…Kidnap? You _can't _be—"

"I'm serious, see? Kidnapping is not to be taken lightly, especially after _she _was killed. This kid is _going _to break, I'm just going to pull a few strings."

N was scared for her, he really was. From what he heard, she was calculating, but not nearly this ruthless. And he did not take that ruthlessness very kindly, it reminded him too much of the past. But he could not do a thing about that, for she was no pushover.

Persuasion of nature, his power _did _come in handy for her.

* * *

><p>Mikan was aware of the deceit now, and she was going to save him.<p>

"Hm, there's another team? No… A lone faierie? Oh well! Permy can't remember, and Hyuuga does not realize it yet."

She continued to murmur as she looked for Natsume, and quickly found something else.

"Ah, hello fellow faierie; I didn't think there was more than one team here."

He was a pretty boy, with blond hair and blue eyes. But she couldn't really see his face well due to the darkness. Still, she was curious about one thing though, and she decided to ask.

"Where is your human then?"

He paused, and then smiled that flawless pretty boy smile.

"Ah, you still think I have a human? No fellow faierie, I do not, and I'm not too keen on having one."

Mikan took a step back, and knew she was terrified. A faierie so powerful he didn't need a human? That was just a rumor, right? She tried to convince herself that he was lying, but he wasn't. Of course he wasn't, why would he lie about that?

Yes, she believed every word he said.

He smiled again, patting her shoulder, "Well, you and your human are not my target, so I'll let you off for now. Please be careful, won't you?"

As he walked, the forest cleared a path for him, and animals seemed to adore his presence. It was as if this forest wasn't cursed at all, but more peaceful.

And N thought to himself, just for a moment.

"_If Natsume knew what I was doing for this, would he still consider me his best friend?"_

* * *

><p>Hotaru was rather fast, and that was surprising for someone like her. She knew N would be back soon, after he found this kid's accomplice.<p>

"What're you doing, hag?"

Hotaru looked down at the kid, whom she had just kidnapped. _Kidnapped. _Just like she was, and how she died, and—

She stopped herself and said, "I just kidnapped you, brat, and don't say I didn't. Now, due to your circumstances, I _will _use force if necessary."

The boy glared at her, "Really? Cause a hag like you can't hurt a fly."

Hotaru shrugged, "Think what you want. I prefer not to get my hands dirty though, but I will if I have to."

The boy just glared more, and she glared right back.

"_Even if I go to hell for this, please forgive me Mikan. This is for your sake, so please…"_

* * *

><p>Sumire was rather lonely at the time, and she didn't know why. She didn't get why, she couldn't remember. Memories came and went, and they were as inconsistent as the wind. But she was getting to that person's name, and she hoped she could win.<p>

"_Yes, I have to win. If I don't—"_

She paused, noticing the "lone faierie" approaching her. She knew the rumors; that people believed what he said. And she was sure she would to, with the power he had.

"Faierie novice!" She called, smiling at his cuteness. She thought he would be ugly, old and scarred. But her power would hold things back, if not for a little while.

She continued, "I'm gonna hafta beat you to the ground to save the kid, so if you don't mind?"

"_Do this, I'll lose the little sanity I have left."_

* * *

><p>He was imagining it, over and over. It was a repeat. He knew it wasn't real. It couldn't be real; it wasn't possible. But he was still terrified; he still couldn't get out of it.<p>

Ruka, killing him, his sister's whispering, Ruka's parents screaming. Yes, it was always his fault. He was angry, rude, and distrusting. So why is he alive?

It would be better if he died, right? Because everything seemed so _pointless _now; far too pointless now. Why was he doing this, why now, why _him?_

Burn any feelings to the ground, and fade away like the night.

Wasn't that was he was hoping for as a child? Before he met Ruka?

Natsume wouldn't mind doing that right now.

* * *

><p><strong>DreamswithJoy<strong>

* * *

><p>Where on Fay was she?<p>

She was on the ground, in the middle of the thick and green forest. Well grown trees were towering over her, blocking out the little radiance emitted by the silver crescent moon. Her fists slowly clenched together, digging up some soil as she did so.

What on Fay was she even doing?

A few minutes ago, she was supposed to go hunt for Natsume. And then, she met a lone faierie with blond hair and blue eyes. She couldn't see his face properly. It was during the dead of the night then, and now it still is. He couldn't have seen her. No, that was not the most important part of their meeting. She was struggling to remember but there seemed to be a relentless haze surrounding her memories. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to recall.

What did he say?

_"Well, you and your human are not my target, so I'll let you off for now."_

Not his target, which means that there are a total of two teams in the forest, excluding her team. She frowned, knowing that it was impossible or she would have sensed the power. One element of her power is that she could feel another faierie's power.

What on Fay happened?

Did Sumire allow another team to pass?

Another memory floated to her mind.

_"Ah, you still think I have a human? No fellow faerie, I do not, and I'm not too keen on having one."_

And she believed him unconditionally? Oh dear, what on Fay was she thinking? Wait… She wasn't thinking; that's why. She stood up slowly, realization dawning on her. Oh shit. She needs to find Natsume right now, right this instant. Closing her eyes, she imagined a sphere big enough to surround her and she began running, in the direction of fire – where she could feel an overwhelming use of the power.

_"Hello, dearies," Miss Miranda spoke in her singsong voice. It was day three at the village she was reincarnated and she was already practicing hard to control her power. They could decide on whatever power they had. "The Desperado list is complete! Hurry and gather."_

_The village was designed similar to a clock. Each Madé Faierie had a small segment to call his or her own. They assembled in the middle where Miss Miranda had appeared out of nowhere. Like always, her burnt orange hair curled neatly at the end and her dark rose, butterfly-like wings were strong and majestic. She was in a deep ruby gown and her russet eyes were glowing. A wide smile spread across her face as we all came together._

_"Wonderful. Here is the list, feast your eyes on them and take your pick. First come, first serve."_

_She wasn't really interested and didn't want to participate in the game. However, two words caught her attention and she couldn't tear her eyes away. Almost subconsciously, her hand shot up and she nearly shouted the name._

_"Hotaru Imai!"_

_But the name wasn't heard as it was drowned by the cries of another boy who had yelled, "Natsume Hyuuga"._

_Miss Miranda held her right hand up and pouted, "You can't choose people you know from your previous life."_

_Disappointment washed over her in an instant, and she couldn't believe her ears. She clenched her fists and bent her head down so that no one would see her tears._

_No…_

_Why…_

_Just how…_

_A strange understanding befell her as she figured how she could solve her problem. The other boy had not shouted a second name after, which means... She snapped her head up and turned to the direction of the boy who had yelled a name the same time she had. Her eyes found their way to a pair of lovely blue eyes. It seemed that he had thought of the same idea too. She gave the person – faierie – a warm smile before raising her hand again. They both nodded at each other politely._

_"Natsume Hyuuga."_

Nogi.

She will never forget him. And she will never forget his power.

_"Hi. Thanks for your help. My name is Nogi. I guess we'll be partners before the game."_

_"No, thank you for your help. My name is Sakura. I'm glad; I was beginning to find it lonely around here. So, what is your power?"_

_"Persuasion of nature."_

The tongues of fire began licking up the forest and everything in its path. Thick columns of hazardous smoke began surrounding the forest. However, where she passed, the choking smoke vanished, along with the burning fire.

She has to find him, fast.

* * *

><p>Something was wrong.<p>

Very wrong.

His first mistake of the night was to assume that there was only one team. The second was to let that faierie go. For all he knew, the two teams were in cahoots. However, he sensed the brunette faierie's essence - it was scattered, as though as she was under attack and it was familiar. Still, now that he was preoccupied, he had just given her the perfect chance to defeat both him and the faierie standing before him.

This faierie standing in front of him was… Delusional? She had fern green coloured curly bob with a short fringe and a pair of olive eyes. Unlike his clear and fragile wings, her dragonfly-like wings were strong and her dressing was unconventional. A playful smirk was on her lips as she let out an unhinged laughter. He couldn't feel a life force in her. It was one of the attributes in having the persuasion of nature. He could sense the essence of people, but hers was missing. He had never encountered something like that before. All faierie he had met had essence.

What sort of faierie he hasn't met doesn't have essence?

A lone faierie isn't standing in front of him, right?

"What are you?" He questioned.

Her eyes floated up and down, before resting on him again. "What do you think?"

Now, there was something seriously wrong. She wasn't listening to him. His eyes narrowed at her, wondering what she could possibly be up to. His persuasion never failed. Who was she?

She closed her eyes this time, sniffed and began coughing vehemently. Ruka saw his chance and launched at her, with a dagger pointing towards her neck. However, before he could even reach her, the faierie exploded into nothingness. His eyes widened in shock. What was happening today? He froze in the middle of his fighting stance, when suddenly, an excruciating pain seared from his left thigh. His left leg weakened as he fell to the ground, kneeling on his right knee. Both his hands supported himself before he collapsed. A groan escaped from his lips as he tried to make sense of what was happening.

"Bunny boy, what are you doing?"

Ruka turned towards the direction of Hotaru's voice, only to see the faierie who had exploded. What? Didn't she just explode? He squinted at her again, when he realized that she blurring on the edges. A moment later, his vision became hazy. He shook his head, trying to clear his vision. Different colours began to dance wildly before him. He slapped himself with one hand and noticed his sight clearing. Once again, he hit himself. Finally focusing, he noticed that he was staring at Hotaru and beside her, was the boy she had wanted to kidnap. The boy's neck was bleeding from an open dagger wound. A deranged laughter rang in his ears once more. The crazy faierie was too close for comfort, and abruptly, he could feel her life essence.

His third mistake of the night was to presume that the faierie he wanted to deal with was a madé.

Her life essence was purer than any of the Madé Faieries he had met so far. That was when he comprehended what was happening.

Looking at the lone faierie, he surmised, "You're a Good Folk."

But she was nothing like he first saw her. She had cat ears, whiskers and paws. No wonder he couldn't sense her. She changed into an animal when the kid Hotaru kidnapped masked her appearance. Now that her cover was blown, she opted to be a hybrid.

Wait, then who is the kid Hotaru had just kidnapped? He turned to Hotaru, trying to warn her.

However, the half-faierie, half-cat returned him a crooked smile. "Too late."

She plunged her claw into his abdomen.

* * *

><p>She saw him, surrounded in a ring of fire. Confusion and a tinge of insanity clouded his vision. His ruby eyes were wide with hysteria and he was staring at his palms. With great concentration, she expanded her sphere to include him. All at once, he jumped in surprise as bewilderment hit him like lightning. He turned to her as he realized that he had lost control of his power. Both of them were gasping heavily - Mikan due to exhaustion while Natsume due to delirium.<p>

She spoke first, breaking the heavy silence that seemed to be blocking their throat, "Are you alright?"

He stared at her, then back at his palms and at her again. After which, he took a few steps back and slumped down on the nearest tree, burying his face in his hands.

"Hyuuga, are you alright?"

Minutes of silence passed before he respond. In the meantime, Mikan was afraid that he will lose any form of sanity he had.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What happened?"

She breathed a sigh of relief and walked towards him. Taking a seat next to him, she began talking, "Wow, you didn't tell me your power is fire. You nearly burned the whole forest down, you know?"

It was now the witching hour, the darkest minutes of the night. The two could only hear each other's whispers and breaths. A cold wind raged by.

"What happened?"

"It was the power of illusion. I know. I'm not sure who it is, but I've got a good guess."

Mikan paused, but Natume didn't say anything, so she continued, "Remember when I told you that I had lived in a village for a while before the games? Well, all the Madé Faieries were living there too. However, we usually don't talk to each other. After all, we know that ultimately, we'll be killing each other. It would be best to stay away from emotions. But I did became acquainted with a Madé Faierie."

She stopped again, and gazed at him, wondering how he was taking it all in.

"And you never told me because."

"It never came up. You just wanted to know how to meet one or get food."

He rolled his eyes at her, and she was glad that he was going back to his normal self as the seconds ticked by.

"Well, what about it?"

"It's too dark now to see anything, but as I was coming here, I met a Madé Faierie. I didn't get to see his face, but I recognized his power. He is the Madé Faierie that I was acquainted with. I don't think he saw me, but he let me go, saying that we're not the team he's hunting for."

Natsume snorted, "He just let you go? That's kind of stupid, isn't it? Who was doing the illusions then?"

"He just let me go. So, I don't think that his human is involved in this."

He lift up his head from his palm and his eyes shot up with understanding. "There is another team here."

She nodded her head. "A powerful one."

Silence ensued afterwards, as Mikan thought about asking the question that had been gnawing her heart out after she had met Nogi. She fidgeted a little and started playing her hair, thinking about how long they would be sitting there, doing nothing. Hugging her knees to herself, she sighed and tried to squelch her desire to go look for Nogi.

"What is wrong with you? Stop fidgeting," Natsume demanded.

She shook her head and bit her lips.

Aggravated, he burned the tips of her hair. Mikan yelp in surprise but extinguish it almost immediately. Natsume looked amused as he mocked, "So that's your power? The power to put out fire?"

She glared furiously at him as she gritted her teeth, "No, it's the power of nullification."

"That's actually the wisest decision I've heard you make, idiot."

"Hey! Would you stop-"

"So, what is wrong with you?"

Mikan fell back in silence. After a short while, she answered, "You know how humans are chosen for the Jeux? Your names will have to be on the Desperado list. I saw my best friend's name, but we were not allowed to choose people we know from our previous life."

"Previous life?"

"You never asked, so I never mentioned about how Madé Faieries came about. We were once humans who lead an insufferable painful life. The Ancient Faierie handpicked us and we are reincarnated to become Madé Faieries."

"And?"

"And, I didn't pick you by coincidence. I made a deal with the Madé Faierie I became acquainted with. He will help my best friend if I help his."

Natsume was staring at her now. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"That you might know one of the Madé Faieries that is in the forest and that my best friend is probably here. I want to meet my best-"

"What is the Madé Faierie's name?"

"I don't know his full name, only-"

"What is the Madé Faierie's name?"

"Nogi."

* * *

><p>The human girl sighed. N seemed to be trying to tell her something before he fell into the hands of cat faierie. Oh well, cat faierie couldn't have harmed her anyway, not when she was frozen in an impeccable ice cuboid. The boy she had kidnapped was still expressionless, probably didn't care enough for his faierie. Wait, what did N say before he fainted?<p>

_"You're a Good Folk.__"_

Now, what is a Good Folk?

She turned to the boy and noticed that he was getting paler by the minute. "Hey, kid, what's a Good Folk?"

The kid became amused. "For someone who has taken out two teams, you don't even know what's a Good Folk?"

She glared at him, froze his legs and smacked him. Only... The kid disappeared. She cursed under her breath. To think she was so careless. That kid had the power of illusion and was probably putting stuff into N's mind. And right now, he was probably injecting stupid images in her mind. Indeed, the ice cuboid began to melt and cat faierie became free. She knew that was impossible, not when she didn't unfreeze her. Definitely a figment of her imagination. The cat faierie smirked at her and she let an evil smile on her face. Yes, that kid is still too young to beat her in a game of wits.

Far too young.

She snapped her fingers and vanished into thin air.

* * *

><p>Youichi tried staunching the flow of blood from his neck. That stupid witch, he hoped that she tortures herself to death with her wild imaginings. Out of the sudden, the human girl disappeared. He stood up from his hiding stop among the trees, wondering where the human girl had faded to.<p>

Wasn't she just there a moment ago?

However, the arena only contained the frozen Sumire and the unconscious Madé Faierie.

How could she have disappeared?

_"There's a faierie without a human."_

_"A psychopath bunny humanoid faierie."_

_"People believed what he said."_

Then it struck him.

_"The loser's power will be given to the winner and the loser have to grant the winner a wish."_

No wonder.

He was wondering how the human was killing the Madé Faieries, since it was part of the rule that the human kill the Madé Faierie while the Madé Faierie enslave the human.

Oh shucks.

He's so dead.

"Hey, kiddo."

* * *

><p><strong>Alcyon Moire<strong>


	6. Fabrication

**Fabrication**

Darn.

He did not like it.

He did not like it at all.

Yes, he is small. But that does _not_ give _anyone _rights to slung him over someone's shoulders.

"Hey, kiddo. Miss me?"

Youichi glared at him and punched the guy's back.

"Put me down."

"I just saved you and not even a word of thanks?"

Youichi snickered, "You've been cursed by the one of the Elder Faieries again?"

The midnight blue spiky hair dude's navy eyes twinkled, "Check out my new mark: It's a star."

* * *

><p>Sigh.<p>

She did not get it.

She did not get it at all.

Why on Fay is Permy frozen in an ice cuboid?

And strangely enough, glittering faierie dust could be found on the ground near her. This was extremely unusual and it could only mean one thing: A faierie is hurt.

"What happened?" Mikan thought out loud.

"A fight happened," Hyuuga responded promptly to her question. "Can you nullify the ice?"

The night was ending. A glorious red glow was slowly spreading across the sky.

"I'll try, but what do you want her for?"

"Information. We need information."

* * *

><p>She felt it coming in her frozen state, but she couldn't stop it.<p>

An Elder Faierie was going to talk to her via a dream. Slowly, she began losing conscious of her frigid limbs, the cold, the numb and the insanity. Transported in a surreal reality, she woke up with a start. To her expectations, she saw the elder that had wanted the MS team eliminated. She bowed.

"Elder."

"You failed."

"Yes, sire, I-"

"Even with the help of the Shadow Faieries."

"Sire, I-"

"You are useless."

"I'm sorry, sire. I-"

"I have engaged the help of another Good Folk. You are now dismissed of your duties."

"No! Sire, wait! Please!"

But just like she felt it coming, she felt it leaving, but she couldn't stop it. Her desperate pleas went unheard.

For some reason, she couldn't feel the ice when she returned. However, she didn't care about that. All she wanted was to remember her life before her death. The memories were getting foggier by the minute and she knew it was because she was dismissed. Dementia would overtake her soon. Warmth slowly crept from her toes all the way to her head and she finally questioned where she was. She opened her eyes to view the vast azure, cloudless sky.

_Help of the Shadow Faierie? Youichi?_

"You're awake," A nonchalant voice stated.

She sat up and recognized the human, "Yeah, I'm awake."

"That's good! I was kind of getting worried," His partner chimed in. Sumire took a good look at the faierie's tawny hair and sienna eyes. For a long time, nobody said anything or even moved. Sumire was staring at the faierie and the faierie was staring back. The human was looking at them intently.

"Why are you staring at S, Permy?"

The name echoed meaninglessly in her ears and she did not react. That's when she realized she knew. She knew that faierie but she couldn't remember her name. An idea slowly occurred to her and a playful smirk was soon playing on her lips.

"I'll make you a deal."

* * *

><p>Hotaru kicked N. It was so not going according to plan. She was intending to finish the kid off. He wasn't supposed to vanish into thin air like that. N wasn't supposed to be lying in the bed recovering from a major injury. N groaned softly but he remained asleep. Yes, she was getting impatient. It has been two days since their inactive states. They were supposed to be eliminating teams. Not to mention that they had to change another hiding place soon. They were living too near the fire incident in the forest. Many teams had realized that it was a battle arena for them and the fearless one would definitely shift their hunt here. She didn't know Fay well enough to move. She needed N to wake up. Their hiding place inside a tree was definitely going.<p>

Suddenly, their door exploded to smithereens. Hotaru cursed under her breath. She stood up and got ready to welcome the attacking team.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A human girl. Looks like the rumours about the psychopath bunny humanoid faierie is a complete lie," The human sneered. He looked Asian, with dark raven hair and onyx eyes. "I'll blow you to tiny little pieces."

Hotaru let out a malicious laugh, "We'll see about that."

Immediately she teleported herself out of their hiding place and teleported N to where they had agreed to keep the humans - in the village forty eight kilometres away from their dwelling place. She didn't really want to send him there since they agreed that the village would be the last option. Still, she had no idea where else and that left her very little choice. She needed to get rid of this team to keep their false reputation safe. The scarlet poppy around her wrist dropped a petal. As she had expected, teams were gathering here for a blood war. Oh well, as long as she survived, it was to her advantage. Now she only had six more teams to get rid of.

"Where do you think you're going?" The human's made faierie muttered.

"I'm going," Hotaru paused as she drew her special iron dagger to her side. "To kill you."

She lunged forward and swiped the faierie. He dodged it well, but his fighting style was too simple. She saw through it easily. As soon as she found a loophole, she attacked.

_Klang._

Her eyes widened in surprise at the transparent egg shell that covered the faierie. Now this was going to be a problem. Immediately, she jumped back to better defend herself. The faierie's lips curved and the tree closest to her exploded. She ducked to avoid the worse of the damage. Dense, grey smoke clouded her vision as she felt a firm grip on your shoulder.

"Submit to me."

* * *

><p>He didn't really trust her.<p>

No, that was an understatement.

He did not trust her at all.

"Come on in," The cat-faierie hybrid invited. He raised his eyebrows. There was a meticulously masked trap door on the ground. It wasn't elaborate but he could tell that it was strong and sturdy. No amount of pounding would make a crack through it unless one knew how to open it.

"So this is your house?" S questioned incredulous. "Wow."

The cat-faierie rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Get in. We're allies now."

"Are we?" Natsume asked. "That will depend on the information you give."

S glared at him and smiled at the cat-faierie, "Yes, we're allies now."

* * *

><p>He wasn't too happy with the result, but he knew it was far from his fault.<p>

"Youichi," A soprano voice called. He sat up from his spot instantly and behold, Miss Miranda. Tsubasa, who was sitting opposite him, continued to roast peppers.

"Miss Miranda," He greeted. From the looks of it, a conversation had already taken place while he was lost in his thoughts.

"I see that you have escaped unscathed," Miss Miranda observed.

He nodded his head, wary of what she was going to say next.

"Actually, I thought that you interrupted the game quite well."

Now that caught him in surprise, and it took a while before he managed a proper "thank you".

"In fact, you just made it more exciting, seeing that there aren't that many Good Folks this year," She approved before adding hastily, "Of course, the dwindling numbers are a good sign."

He didn't say anything in reply to that, knowing full well that the Elders secretly hope for more Good Folks. It provides entertainment, after all.

"Usually Shadow Faieries like you don't bother to participate, so it's nice to see a change."

That was when he realized that she was getting on to something.

"Is anything the matter?"

Her bored tone turned cheery almost instantly, "Why, yes! We have decided that we will encourage more participation amongst the Shadow Faieries. After all, there are only five of you. Hayate and Rui have both agreed to join while Nobara made no objections."

It was annoying that elders like her prefer faieries to ask her everything than her just saying it all. It was as though as she liked the building up of climax for each question.

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"Side a team and help them win. If the team you help wins, you get another power."

"And if I lose?"

"We'll take away one of your power."

Sometimes, he felt that he had to squeeze information out of the elders. They never tell you everything you need to know at once.

"And if I don't join?"

"Are you sure you want to let the other faieries grow much stronger than you?"

* * *

><p>A sharp shriek cut across the pandemonium. Both humans looked up. The made faierie was disintegrating. Seeing her chance, Hotaru drew blood on the attacking human.<p>

"Ouch! What the? You stu-"

He paused midway in his sentence as his senses dulled.

Hotaru whispered, "What is your wish?"

"To kill all women who had cheated on their husband."

That is such a stupid wish. The ignorance and idiocy of human kind never failed to surprise her. A bright glow began to shine from her opponent's poppy and the poppy dropped onto the floor. Hotaru released the control of his soul. His partner was still screaming when Hotaru drove the iron dagger in his heart. All she had to do now was to wait for N to bound the human to a contract and she would acquire the power of explosion. The human was groaning on the floor and regaining his senses

"What happened?" He mumbled.

Better to knock him unconscious. She controlled the nearest log with her mind and struck him with it. The human fell unconscious. Only five teams now. Just as she was about to teleport both him and her to the village, a voice stopped her.

"What? Not even a word of thanks, Cool Blue Sky?"

Two fairies emerged from behind the trees and the haze. One was grinning widely at her. He had maroon stylish hair with sunglow eyes. The other was giving a really stultified look. He had bronze hair and hazelnut eyes.

"Do you even know what kind of ground you are standing on?" The maroon hair faierie asked.

"What does it matter?"

His smile grew wider as another faierie appeared beside him. The new faierie had scarlet hair and cyan eyes. When he spoke, the temperature of the environment dropped, "You are on my ring."

That was when she saw the charred circle of grass. No wonder the made faierie burned up. He was being cursed.

"I'm not cursed, but I don't appreciate your help."

The maroon faierie pouted, "So mean, but that's why I liked you. It isn't just the curse. My friend here, Hajime, could have killed you. He's a Good Folk. His mission is to kill you, but I stopped him."

"By your own choice, nothing to do with me."

"Don't you want to know why?"

"I don't care."

But he went on as though as she never spoke, "Because we're going to be a team. The two of us, Rui and myself, Hayate, are going to help you win."

"Two? I don't need your help."

"Yes, two. We're the Shadow Faieries. We can take sides and you don't really have a choice."

* * *

><p>It was a cosy little place, with just the necessary furnitures one would need to live with. Mikan and Natsume took a sit when another faierie walked into the room. He had chestnut spiky hair and cocoa-coloured eyes.<p>

"Hey, what's up! Didn't expect to have guests today," He was beaming as he took a seat opposite them. Sumire scowled at him but sat beside him anyway.

"We're trading information," Natsume answered indifferently and he was elbowed by Mikan.

"No, we're allies now."

"Allies? Whoop! That's great. I'm Kokoro, but you can call me Koko. I'm a Good Folk too."

Natsume shot Mikan a glare that told her to shut up. The four of them stared at each other. A short silence ensued before Koko asked, "Okay, as allies, we're trading information. So what kind of information are we trading?"

"I don't know," Sumire answered. "But the information I want is about my past."

"I see, and the information you want?" Koko inquired.

"Everything you know about Fay - how the Elders work, the existence of the Good Folk, everything."

* * *

><p><strong>Czeselle<strong>


	7. Ghastly

**Ghastly**

Silence had never been so deafening.

The four of them were looking at each other, waiting for someone to break the silence. After what felt like hours to them, Koko broke the silence.

"What do you want to know?" he asked. "All you have to do is participate in the game. Win, and you get your wish granted. Lose, and you get yourself enslaved to a contract of granting the one who beat you one wish."

"Don't talk as if this is not important. I'm taking part in this, so I must know what is going on. There must be more than this. For instance, what are you doing here?" Natsume pressed.

Koko seemed to be thinking of something. His right hand was beneath the elbow of his left head, which was touching his lips. He let silence filled the room once again, though this time, it wasn't as awkward and deafening as it was.

"Alright. I'll tell you everything I know. But I do not want any information from you. With Sumire though, it's another matter. She said she wants to know about her past, you give her information about her past."

"I'll tell you what I know about you, Permy, once you tell us what you know," Mikan promised.

"But, are you suggesting that you want something else?" Natsume clarified.

"You're a smart one! I like you! Yes, in exchange for my information, I want you guys to do something for me. I will only tell you what it is after you've agreed to do it. Fair enough?"

Natsume and S exchanged glances, waiting for any violent objections from the other person. While they were silently discussing, Sumire took the chance to grab Koko's shoulder and brought his ear closer to her mouth.

"What are you planning?" She whispered softly, but loud enough just for him to hear.

Koko smirked mysteriously.

"You'll see."

Natsume looked at the two faieries sitting opposite of them, after ascertaining S's opinion.

"Deal."

* * *

><p>Hotaru knew that it was a joke. Throughout the time she had played this game, (which was just days, really) she never heard of the existence of the Shadow Faieries. They had followed her back to her hiding place. N was resting in bed.<p>

"You're kidding me, right?"

"We're not," The guy with maroon hair, replied. If her memory served her correct, his name was Hayate.

"You said you're going to help us win," Hotaru paused. She would not continue until at least one of them looked like they were listening to her. When she saw their looks on her, she knew she had their attention. She used the chance to continue.

"And how are you going to do that? What's a Shadow Faierie anyway?"

"We used to be like him too. We used to be a Made Faierie. We won the game but decided to stay in Fay since there is really no point in living as humans. And as you know, by winning and staying, we still have the 12 powers we earned during the game," The other faierie, Rui explained.

Hotaru eyes widened when she heard the newfound fact.

"12 powers?"

"Yes. And imagine this: The two of us team up with you. It will be like extra 24 powers in addition to the powers you have. In short, that will make you the favorite to win this Jeux," Hayate deduced, trying to bait her into being in the same team with all those information.

Under normal circumstances, she would never take up offers from anyone. But power gives one the advantage to win the Jeux, and she _needed_ to win badly. It was the shortest and quickest decision she had ever make in her entire life. She stole a glance on N, who was too weak to have a say in this matter. But one look on his face explained what he wanted to say. She nodded.

"Of course, if we are a team, we will heal the Madé Faierie over there. We have the power of healing," Hayate added.

Stealing one last look on N, Hotaru looked at the Shadow Faierie, determined.

"I, no... We, We accept."

Hayate gave her a smirk. He was obviously happy that she had agreed to be in a team together.

"That's what I was talking about!"

A paper suddenly solidified from the surrounding air. Rui took the paper and hand it over to Hotaru.

"We need you and your Madé Faierie to sign this. This is the paper of agreement that as of now, Hayate and I are going to help you win by being in the same team."

Hotaru snatched the paper away and signed the paper. She handed the paper to N who struggled to sign the paper. Once the pair signed the agreement, the paper shot up the sky.

"Well, I look forward to working with you, partner."

* * *

><p>"Fay runs by a ranking system. The Good Folks are more of the citizens of Fay. We're higher in rank than the Madé Faierie, but we're still lower than the Ancient Faierie and the Elder Faieries," Sumire said.<p>

"Ancient Faerie?" Natsume asked.

"Yes. The Ancient Faierie is the Head, the highest in rank. They only exist one at a time. So there will never be a case of having two Ancient Faieries. The Elder Faierie is the second highest. The Shadow Faerie follows it. Next, would be us, the Good Folk. Then the Madé Faieries and of course, the human is the last," Koko answered. He said his words slowly, so that they would be able to process it in their head.

"Who are the Shadow Faieries?" Natsume asked. Koko raised his eyebrow, amused by his eagerness to know everything about the system in Fay. Nevertheless, he answered the human.

"They were Made Faieries who won the previous Deadly Jeuxes and decided to stay in Fay because 'there's nothing worth going back for'. Thus, to reward them for winning the Jeux, the Elder Faieries transfer the powers of their human to them," Koko explained. "But I've heard that they don't participate in Jeux."

Sumire spoke suddenly, "I think they're participating as well."

"They are?" Koko questioned, surprised.

"Remember Youichi? He is a Shadow Faierie. He helped me just now."

"That's strange… I've never heard of that..." Koko answered as he frowned. "Anyway, so it seems that they participate in the games too then..."

* * *

><p>"That damn hag! She purposely made me say yes! If only she isn't an Elder Faierie, I would have..." Youichi complained once Miss Miranda had left. "Don't you have anything to say, Tsubasa?"<p>

Tsubasa looked up and shrugged. "It's getting boring here in Fay anyway. I think the Jeux is a good entertainment. They shouldn't have stopped us from participating in the first place."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"I think you're insane. And I wonder why they stopped our participation in the first place."

"Why, thank you. I wonder too," Tsubasa smiled. He stood up and stretched a little.

"Where are you going?"

"To find a team to aid. Are you coming or what?"

* * *

><p>The atmosphere in the air became thick. One doesn't have to be a genius to know that the matter at hand is serious. A long, deep sigh was then heard from a raven-haired man.<p>

"You still haven't told us about the Good Folk," Natsume demanded.

"I was about to get to that," Koko said. "Stop cutting me, will you? Anyway, back to the topic at hand... The Good Folks. Ah, yeah. The Good Folks. We used to be human too. I think you guys know that much though," Koko started. "We are humans who died under special circumstances."

"What circumstances?" S leaned towards the edge of her seat.

"A human whose death is instigated by an Elder Faierie will reincarnate into a Good Folk."

A short gasp escaped S mouth. Death was a horrible feeling, but at least she died a somewhat natural death. Imagine to have her death instigated by an Elder Faierie! Why on earth would an Elder Faierie do that?

Seeing her expression, a small chuckle escaped his lips.

"Relax, it wasn't that horrible. We are rather grateful to turn into a Good Folk. We now have a second chance in life, by participating in the Jeux. But having this second chance is really... Let's just say our life is at strike."

"Strike?"

"We have a curse. Or at least, we regard it as a curse," Sumire said. "While a Madé Faierie will die if he or she loses the game, we will lose our memories and at the same time, gradually reach the point of insanity. In short, we will go berserk. The only way to avoid insanity is to defeat a team. By defeating a team, we will remember a piece of our past memories," Sumire paused to catch her breath. She looked at the team's expression before continuing.

"I'm sure you've heard cases of humans who fall into a coma, woke up with no memories and became crazy. Yes, they are the Good Folks, who failed to recover their memories and prevent the process of going berserk. Once the Jeux ends, we get reincarnated. Whatever memory we lose and whatever insanity we gain, we bring it to our second life."

Koko nodded at the statement.

"The time for the Deadly Jeux is like a time limit for the Good Folks. When the game commenced, we must defeat teams or make deals with Elder Faieries to regain our memories. The longer we don't defeat a team, the more we will lose our memories and become more insane."

Once Koko finished his explanation, the air became denser and more suffocating. It was hard to breathe and catch one's breath. Who could, when you know that the Deadly Jeux is just one very twisted and cruel game?

Natsume cleared his throat to gain the Good Folks' attention. Once he was sure he got their attention, he proceeded to say what he wanted to say.

"The deal. What is it that you want us to do?"

"Ah yes, the deal. Firstly, I want you guys to team up with us. We may not be as strong as a Shadow Faierie, but we are useful all the same. Secondly," Koko eyed the Made Faierie and the human carefully. "If either one of us reach the point of insanity, I want you guys to find the Elder Faierie that instigated our death."

* * *

><p><strong>Pancakezxc<strong>


	8. Hallucinations

**Hallucinations**

Hotaru always wondered what else she could ask for, besides wanting Mikan back, of course.

"I see, so this is the way you override the rule of having to kill the Madé Faierie personally, pretty ingenious if I may say," Hayate commented and nodded his head.

They - N, Hayate, Rui - were discussing strategy on the far side of the room. She was wondering what she should do about the five human slaves she had obtained from winning at the other side.

"Yes," N replied. "We found out by accident when we defeated the first team. Imai wanted to experiment with her power, so this is what we did. She controlled me with her soul-sucking power and killed the Madé Faierie. She used the same power to control the human to speak about her wish and I was able to enslave her into a contract."

"And after that, you two went to get a nice little house for yourselves and this dwelling place to keep the human slaves," Rui inferred. "So, what are Imai's powers currently?"

"Oh, it's-" N began.

"None of your business," Hotaru interrupted, irritated that they have been doing nothing but talking. "If you want to know, it is for you to find out."

Rui glared at her and warned, "Remember it is to your disadvantage. We are a team now."

"Haven't you heard before? Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

"You-"

"Alright, understood," Hayate soothed before Rui could roar at her. "You don't trust us. Got it. Chill, people. I mean, faieries. Eh, wait. Whatever. But chill."

She rolled her eyes and made her way to the basement, where all the slaves lived. The three immediately broke into a hushed argument. She sighed and shook her head. Sometimes, she wondered whether the Shadow Faieries came to help them or deter them. No one had left the dwelling house for 10 days. Only one team was kicked out during the time frame of their – what Rui would call – "strategy discussion". But really, they seemed to be just digging information out of them. There were only four teams left, excluding herself. They should just start stalking the other teams and get rid of them.

Hey, maybe she should just do it herself.

"Hey," A deep, threatening bass called. She looked up, meeting a pair of intense eggplant eyes. He had maroon red spikey hair and a pair of dangling spear earrings. Him, she recalled, something about redemption of himself.

"What?" She never mistreated her five slaves. The food cabinet was always filled with edible stuff and they do have nice mattresses. Not that it was her responsibility, but N had made sure to keep them alive.

"How long do you plan on keeping us here?" A bright shrilly snapped. She had tyrian purple hair and a pair of slate grey eyes.

"Until I think of something I want you to accomplish for me," Hotaru answered matter-of-factly. The five of them were all sitting on their respective mattresses. Hotaru went on and made herself comfortable, sitting on the only couch in the whole basement. She remembered the girl's wish quite clearly. It was to sent the girl who killed her boyfriend to hell. Not exactly important.

A guy turned and grinned widely at her till his eyes disappeared. Shaking his head, he questioned, "So, what are you doing here? This is your first time."

Now that she thought of it, that guy had an interesting wish about time-travelling, but it's not significant. After all, she will be inventing one in the near future.

"I'm not obligated to answer you."

"Well, after a long time without newcomers, I'm surmising that you haven't been out for days," The asian-looking boy with dark raven hair and onyx eyes guessed. Oh yes, the boy who sought to kill all women who had cheated on their husband.

"I'm still not obligated to answer you."

Silence roamed the room and the girl who interest Hotaru was the girl she first defeated. She remembered her vividly: dancing magenta-wavy-long hair and determined burgundy eyes. It seemed to her that she was the only person who seemed to have a real reason to fight. The others' reasons were just superficial, or just plain insane. What was it again? To resurrect her fiancé.

"I have just thought of something I want one of you to do."

* * *

><p>A plan. They need a plan. He needed to know the powers of Koko and whether he could trust the both of them.<p>

"I'll let you in on another secret," Sumire began. "An Elder Faierie is requesting your death."

At this, the pair stared at her in shock and froze.

"What?" S questioned. "Why does he want us dead?"

"How would I know?" Sumire snapped. "You don't ask questions when an Elder tells you to do something. Since I apparently failed, I am pretty sure they have engaged some other Good Folk to do it. Actually, I am sure."

"So, what should we do now?" S asked.

"We have two ways of winning," Natsume deduced. "One, to stay hiding until only one team is left and then we defeat the-"

"That's not agreeable," Koko interrupted. "If we don't defeat teams, Sumire and I will lose more memories. Besides, if the last team defeated all ten teams, their human would have ten powers. It isn't a very ideal situation."

"Don't cut. Two, we devise a sure-win plan."

"Before we go into any of that, I want to know about my past," Sumire whined.

"Oh, right," S answered as she smacked her own forehead. "Let's see. You went to school with me and Hotaru, remember?"

"Hotaru?"

"My best friend."

"Wait, I went to school with you?"

"Yes, and you know your little French curls at the side of your head? Well, we derived your nickname 'Permy' from there."

"Well, continue! That can't be it. I am only left with very few memories and I don't remember you any longer. Keep talking."

"Erm, you're rich and you do quite well in your studies. And erm…"

"Can you speak about something more substantial?"

"We went to different high schools. As you know, Hotaru had always been the genius and I didn't do very well, so, I haven't seen you much ever since you were in high school."

"That's it? You can't tell me anything else? My parents, my life, whether I even had friends or boyfriends?"

"Hey, I am your friend. From what I know, there was this boy. I can't remember his name right now. It was Yo-something. You never let us know his full name since you were afraid of Hotaru blackmailing you. But I think Hotaru said she will investigate. Anyway, you were quite close to him, despite just meeting and hanging out in the first year of high school. He lived a few doors away from you, but he moved away recently. Then, you got yourself into some rather ugly rumours like sleeping with everybody and your parents were angry. Your relationship with them became quite strained afterwards."

"And?"

"And I don't know what happened after that."

"Why?"

"Well, I just don't know. I am sorry, I wish I could tell you more, but I really don't know."

"How could you not know?"

"Enough, she has told you what she knows," Natsume intercepted, seeing that S was beginning to squirm about uncomfortably. Her fingers were playing with each other and her palms were sweaty. Her usual smile was gone and her head was bending lower and lower.

"Sumire," Koko hushed gently.

"But-"

Koko didn't say anything else but dragged her into another room, leaving the pair alone in the living room.

"I really don't know," S sighed, clearly upset.

"I know."

"How do you know?"

He didn't say anything for a long time, as though as he was contemplating his next few words very carefully, "I just know."

_Well, you're a Madé Faierie, you probably died not longer after._

* * *

><p>"What do you think about the likes of that team?" Tsubasa asked.<p>

"Why are you asking me? You're the one who wants to look for a team," Youichi answered grumpily.

"I'm not the one with the power of foretelling! And you can ask your ghosts whether they'll see the Madé Faierie alive in a month or something."

In sight, was a team. The human girl had a long fringe with shoulder length inky hair and a pair azure eyes. Her Madé Faierie was on all fours while she was sitting on him. The Madé Faierie was a young brunette boy.

"I see that she'll lose by our hands," His tone turned grave and deep.

"Really? Why don't you do a prediction for me? Maybe we will find out who we are joining."

"I don't control what I see."

"Come on."

"This is plain stupid."

"No, it's not."

"You are stupid. Fine. You will..." Youchi's voice changed once more. "Find the person you love."

* * *

><p>"I don't want to go back."<p>

"You actually want to stay in Fay?" Hotaru questioned.

"I rather. There's nothing left for me to go back for now," The girl with magenta-wavy-long hair and burgundy eyes responded. "I wish you good luck."

"You don't have a choice."

They were out of the house. The girl was controlled by Hotaru to move for she had refused to budge.

"Where are you going anyway? You, with the power of soul-sucking, explosion, ice, intuition, teleportation and telekinesis, shouldn't need my help."

"I just wanted to get rid of another slave, and I chose you."

"At least tell me where you are going!"

"To the next nearest pair."

"I can't help you, because obviously you have my power."

"Maybe I want to help you, you would never know."

"What?"

"All you have to do later is to pretend to be my Madé Faierie."

* * *

><p>The four of them gathered in the small room once again, this time with Natsume leading the discussion.<p>

"What is your power, Koko?" Natsume probed.

He gave him a lazy smile, "To read minds."

"Wow, that's so cool!" S exclaimed. "I wish I thought of that."

"That makes things easy," Natsume continued. "I have a plan on how we can defeat teams."

_Knock. Knock._

All of them stopped dead and stared at each other. Koko shook his head to indicate that there was nobody else who knew the hiding place.

_Knock. Knock._

"It's not a ghost, right?" S whispered fearfully, tears brimming in her eyes.

Completely ignoring S, Natsume asked, "Can you read the mind of the thing outside?"

* * *

><p>"Crawl," The lady with inky hair and azure eyes commanded.<p>

"Yes, my lady," The young brunette boy answered and began crawling forward.

"You stupid boy! You're in the wrong direction!" She shouted at him as she spanked him. "Left, not forward."

"Yes, my lady. I'm sorry!"

He changed his direction as nature paved a smooth path for him, on their own. As he continued, he inquired timidly, "Erm, my lady, where are we going?"

"Did I ask you to talk? Keep quiet and move."

"Yes, my lady. I'm sorry!"

She sighed. Everything about her Madé Faierie is horrible, except for the fact that he had chosen a smart power. He was so cowardly, it took him forever to bind the humans she defeated into a contract. Maybe that is why she isn't on a killing spree. He was so slow that some other powerful team has taken out a more than half the teams in the game. She was supposed to be owning. With her power, they were practically unstoppable, but no, she was stuck with this stupid fool. The more she thought about it, the angrier she felt.

"Hurry up, you fool! Why are you so slow?"

"I'm sorry, I'll speed up," He muttered but he turned right instead of continuing forward. Two beings were walking towards them; he felt their footsteps on the ground.

"Why are you changing direction, you idiot?"

"I sense a team in that direction."

"What! Go back, go back! The purpose of the game is to defeat teams and you're running away? You fool!"

"But-"

"Go back now!"

"Yes, my lady. I'm sorry!"

"It's time to test the new powers I have gotten."

* * *

><p><strong>Alcyon Moire<strong>


	9. Interference

**Interference**

Even though she had realized it quite easily before, S was once again reminded of the selfish, bloodthirsty nature of the Jeux.

She recalled the time prior to the start of the Jeux, when she signed her contract with Natsume. She had explained the brief concept of the Jeux to him with a rather unsuitable tone – her usual cheerful voice – without knowing the true nature of the game.

That statement alone made her rethink._ No. This definitely isn't a game. This is a dangerous reality, and there's no backing out. It's between life and death for us._

Had she not been struck with fear from the knocking of the door, S would have cursed herself for underestimating what she had gotten into.

_Knock. Knock._

"Can you read the mind of the thing outside?"

She blinked her tears away as she nervously turned to Natsume – who was directing his stern gaze at Koko.

"…" The brown-haired male remained silent, still shocked from the fact that their hiding place had been discovered.

"Hey, Koko…" Sumire started – her voice barely trembling as she placed a hand on his shoulder and shook. "What the hell's going on?"

It shook him out of his stupor – and to the confusion of the other three in the room, he glanced at them with an expression of urgency before standing up.

"We have to get out of here. Now." He whispered hurriedly as he grabbed Sumire's wrist and made a motion for the others to follow him.

While S watched him worriedly and comprehended his every gesture without hesitation, Natsume was unsure of what to think. He still didn't completely trust the duo despite their trade – S hadn't supplied Sumire with all the information she desired due to obvious reasons, and he was anxious that the tables would turn for their alliance due to that fact – and a part of him wondered if it was some sort of trap.

But no matter how suspicious he was of Sumire and Koko, the knocking on the door definitely meant bad news.

As soon as the knocking became stronger, he confirmed his statement as Koko ushered him and the others through the back door.

Natsume hadn't realized that S was gripping his hand with hers – hard – as they ran, but instead of flinching he continued to pull her with him as they heard the sound of the door being blasted off its' hinges.

* * *

><p>Yet another petal fell from the flower bound around Hotaru's thin wrist. Though she was satisfied by the fact that there were now three more teams for her to defeat, she knew that along with the defeat, another team had gained a new power. Despite her everlasting confidence and determination, she knew that the winner of the fight would be a threat – a small one, but still a threat – because they were most likely the team with the most powers, besides her and N.<p>

All she was certain of was that defeating that team was a priority.

Hotaru quickly glanced at the magenta-haired female trailing her begrudgingly – this impression of her was based on her expression rather than her movements, as Hotaru did not remove her soul-sucking power's effects yet – because she had agreed to the ebony-haired female's order.

Not that she had much of a choice – Hotaru made sure of that.

She opened her mouth in order to explain the plan to the slave girl, but she paused in her steps when she was met with a strange sight in front of her.

There were odd markings on the ground which Hotaru deducted were side effects from a team's power – subtle cracks on the ground which were focused on one small area despite the large playing field provided for the teams who fought there. However, the cracks weren't the main oddity which she noted with suspicion.

She barely squinted to notice that there were not four trails of footsteps visible in the ground – there were countless. The majority of the trails were leading in circles around a certain point – all around two pairs of footprints.

After a moment of thought, she figured it out.

Judging from the fact that one of the entrapped pairs of footprints had ceased, while the one next to them had followed another duo of markings, she discovered that the fight had occurred there – and it seemed like an easy win. Many of her fights involved the exploding of trees and many other objects nearby, but the only evident proof of destruction were the cracks in the ground as well as the minor spilling of blood.

But the image which made even Hotaru Imai worried was the fact that she could see what the winning team's power was – one of them could duplicate themselves.

* * *

><p>"Now tell me…" Natsume huffed, exhausted from the urgent escape from whatever was at the door. "…why the heck did we run?!"<p>

The four had taken a temporary refuge within another forest despite their less-than-pleasant memories from the last time they ever seeked shelter from a dark, tree infested area.

"Turned out that I could read its mind – or rather, his." Koko replied grimly.

"We already figured that out earlier due to your reaction, so tell us!" Even Sumire was becoming irritated from not knowing the situation.

He turned to S and Natsume. "You know how we were previously ordered to get rid of you guys by n Elder Faierie? Well the Good Folk they requested to replace us was at the other side of the door."

The two were visibly shocked by the news. "Eh?!" S gasped, terrified. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. I read his mind – it was as easy as reading anyone else's. It seems he struck a deal with the same Elder Faierie in order to regain his memories, like us… and he's determined to keep to his plan."

Natsume, after comprehending the information, clicked his tongue and ran his hand through his hair in exasperation.

"…We're screwed."

* * *

><p>"You're such a hopeless case!" The inky haired girl hissed at her Madé faierie, kicking his leg. "When will you ever <em>wake up<em>?"

Of course, she hadn't been referring to his sleeping patters as he – like all other Madé faieries – did not require sleep. She was becoming more and more irritated at his incompetency in enslaving the humans they defeated – as well as everything else.

"Sorry, my lady!"

_Ugh._

If it wasn't for having another team be eliminated in the Jeux and her opportunity to test the powers she had claimed from her former opponents, the human would have passed the whole fighting and enslaving ordeal as pointless. Her hands were covered in blood after every fight, and waiting forever for her unreliable Madé faierie to enslave the humans almost outweighed the benefits.

_Almost._

She crossed her arms as she continued to be carried on the back of the brunette boy as she started to think to herself – anything to temporarily forget the anger she was internally expressing for the boy she was sitting on at that moment.

"The powers I've obtained…" She decided to voice her thoughts in order to make sure that he was ready for the next moves she would use. "…the one I used in our previous fight, _before _you pathetically tried to enslave that faierie-"

"Sorry, my lady!"

"Don't interrupt me!"

"Yes, my lady! I'm sorry!"

She clicked her tongue at the repetitive apologies which obviously were worth nothing, but continued in her explanation. "This definitely gives us an advantage, no matter how powerful that other strong team is. Combined with your power, we're unstoppable – no matter how incompetent you are."

"Yes, my lady-"

"Why are you going into the forest?! Go left!"

"I sense someone there."

"Someone as in one person?"

"Yes, my lady."

"What?! Turn left, now! It might not be a team! What if it's the faierie with no human?!"

She didn't entirely believe the rumor, but a lone faierie within their 'battlegrounds' in Fay was definitely something to fear. She didn't care if the unknown person was a human rather than a faierie – for the first time since she decided to participate in the Deadly Jeux, she opted to stay safe.

"Yes, my lady!"

"Don't bother, I can see you already." An unknown voice called out to the team.

The inky haired girl turned to see – as she suspected – a faierie. However, his wings looked stronger than those of her Madé faierie.

"What are you?"

"I'm a Good Folk. And I'd like to help you out."

* * *

><p>After an hour of walking around, searching for a team to defeat, Hotaru finally sighted one – a tan-skinned man with hair cut dangerously close to his scalp, and a small Madé faierie with long, indigo hair.<p>

"A team's over there. Now, you're going to do this perfectly, otherwise I might revoke my statement of helping you out." Hotaru ordered her slave as she pushed her forward, towards the team in their vision.

"No need to push, I'll do it, okay?" The magenta-haired slave muttered as she walked forward.

_After I defeat this team, there'll be two left. I will win this, and get Mikan back. No matter what, _she internally declared to herself as she bravely stepped forward, grasping the hilt of her iron dagger firmly.

* * *

><p>S, Natsume, Sumire and Koko had taken refuge far away from their previous hiding spot, near the meeting point of the forest and the clear green plains.<p>

"We don't have much time… there's only four petals left, and that's including our own." S sighed as she scratched her head.

"Isn't that a given, we _need _to start defeating teams now, otherwise we'll go berserk!" Sumire scoffed, throwing her arms in the air. "Are we gonna move or what?"

Natsume could barely hear the two females arguing as he relayed all the explanations which Koko had given him. The fact that not only would they have to win against the other teams who obviously had more powers than their team – who hadn't defeated a single team – but they also had to watch out for the Good Folk out to get them, wasn't pleasant news.

_I have no choice but to trust them, _he groaned to himself as he looked at the two Good Folk accompanying them – Sumire was trying to ease her irritation with the help of Koko – _and somehow, I have to trust her as well, _he also admitted as he glanced begrudgingly at his Madé faierie, who was staring at the ground worriedly.

_Because in order to bring Ruka back, I have to win this Jeux. Even if he hates me for using underhanded tricks in this game – if he ever finds out about this crazy ordeal – bringing him back is my only goal._

* * *

><p><strong>Autumn Win-Dow<strong>


End file.
